BORED, BROKEN AND BEDBOUND
by Ballyuk
Summary: Hospital scene expansion together with a bit of the Chlo-Lo we didn't get to see in 6x01 (Zod).


**Author's Notes: I do not own the characters. As amusing as the falling barn door was in the following episode, I don't think it should have been the trigger for Lois' start in journalism, especially in light of all the much stranger occurrences she'd seen over the past couple of years. I think investigating the plane crash would have been a better way in, with the likes of Clark, Martha and Chloe throwing her off the trail to preserve Clark's secret.**

* * *

**BORED, BROKEN AND BEDBOUND.**

* * *

She cleared her throat and looked away, quietly easing her hand back by her side. Judging by the sheepish expression on Clark's face having released it, he must have recognised the moment for the temporary insanity that it was. There would be no hand-holding, thank you very much. She opted to change the subject.

"So uh...how's your mom?"

"Just a few cuts and bruises but nothing serious. She's back home taking care of some stuff," Clark replied, relieved that she'd changed the subject.

"Yeah, well hopefully I won't be stuck in here for too long. I'm not sure they need to keep me bedridden anyway."

"You know, you'll be out of here a lot sooner if you just do as the doctors tell you," suggested Clark, well aware that Lois would look to climb out of the nearest window when no-one was looking if it were up to her.

"Of course I know _that_," Lois retorted a little heatedly. "I'm not an invalid, Smallville. All I need is to be back in my apartment with my nice comfy bed and coffee on tap, and I'll be good as gold in no time."

"It's just that...I'd rather you got better while you have properly trained people taking care of you. Things got a bit crazy for a while out there. It would be nice if you could cut them a little slack."

Lois bristled at the insinuation, training her eyes back to Clark. "Hey, what makes you think I've been busy busting their chops? I've been lying right here high on morphine or something the entire time. So what if I need a little privacy when I want to pee!"

Clark smiled and raised his hands in surrender, hoping that his words might calm the beast before the volume rose. "I was at the nurses' station asking for you Lois, but they've been so busy they weren't sure where everyone was. You've been here a few times so when I described you as 'blonde, bossy, complains a lot', they knew exactly who I was talking about and pointed me in this direction."

She narrowed her eyes but struggled to mask the smile that was forming. "Ha ha, very funny." In the next moment, she was stifling a yawn.

Clark grinned again. That Lois was conscious enough to bicker with him brought relief, and knowing that he'd got the upper hand for once pleased him no end. After everything that had happened, once again it was Lois who'd managed to bring a sense of cheer. The way his mother had described the plane crash and Lois' injuries, he'd expected to find her in a really bad way, and the very idea had unsettled him more than he'd care to admit, especially to Lois. His time in the Phantom Zone, not knowing if he would ever make it back, had made him realise that he needed to take stock of his life and think about the people around him who were important to him. How would they cope in a world where Zod had taken charge? So far, Clark had found that everyone close to him was alive and well, and that was a massive plus.

"You should get some rest, Lois. I'll stop by again tomorrow. Maybe I'll bring your favourite four-legged friend to cheer you up. I'm sure he misses you too," Clark said as he stood up.

Lois wasn't amused. "Smallville, I'm warning you. If that furball comes within 20 feet of me...,"

"He'll be so excited to see you-"

"Smallville!" Lois drew out the name as a threat.

"-and curl up at the foot of the bed to make sure you don't get cold-"

"Clark!"

"-and bring you back when you're away in dreamland again!" Clark carried on. Seeing Lois' eyes flare up as she ground her teeth, he eased off.

"I'm just kidding. I'm glad you're safe. Just promise me you'll do as they say and get better soon."

"OK, I promise!" said Lois, settling back down and rolling her eyes as if to humour him.

Clark nodded and made his way out. Just as he reached the door, Lois called out.

"Hey, Smallville? Tell your mom I said thanks. I don't know what would've happened if she hadn't..." she trailed off.

"Don't worry Lois. She told me she'll stop by in a couple of hours. You can thank her yourself. Get some rest."

Lois smiled. The Kents knew all the right things to say to make her feel better. The dearly departed Mr Kent had had an unshakable faith in her. Mrs Kent shared that same faith and had always been warm and kind. Clark went out of his way to take care of everybody he knew. He seemed to understand her in a way that nobody ever had, and was uncannily able to break down all those barriers she placed to protect herself emotionally. They were two different people yet kindred spirits in their own, odd little way.

No sooner had Clark left when a funny tingle started up in her hand. Lois sank back into her pillow and sighed, trying to focus on something - _anything_ \- else, to no avail. The tingle gently pulsed up and down her arm, into her chest, through her spine and up her neck, adding a light reddening that spent the best part of fifteen minutes settled on her cheeks, refusing to budge. Lois tried to convince herself that it was all down to the medication and not, as a tiny part of her brain dared countenance, the physical manifestation of sheer relief that Smallville was safe from all the mayhem, and that he cared so much. She wasn't _that_ happy to see him, or _that_ touched that he'd come to visit, but she _was_ pleased that he'd stopped by to visit.

Was it the cocktail of drugs being fed through her IV that had made her delirious? There was no way Clark's giant hand could leave such a warm tingle and also give her the same feeling of calm and reassurance as the ethereal glow of that icy limbo her mind had transported her to.

_Yep, without doubt it's the drugs!_

With nothing to do and no-one to talk to, she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to claim her.

* * *

The sunlight filtered through the gaps in the blinds. Blinking her eyes open and groggily taking in her surroundings, Lois recognised that she was still in hospital. She didn't know how long she had slept for, but everything looked exactly as before. Glancing around the room, the two other patients from before were still there, and both were still fast asleep.

Now she was awake, she was back to the sheer boredom of lying in a hospital bed, incapable of moving much as the muscles in her back and abdomen groaned at the effort, or attempting to ward off the room-spin that took over whenever she dared to lift her head off her pillow. The hands of the clock on the far wall crawled along at a snail's pace, making her wonder if the clock had stopped. Whenever the door was opened, Lois could just about read the red digits on the electronic clock above the nurse's station, and the time there seemed to move just as sedately. Time stood still whenever Lois found herself in hospital.

On the plus side, she didn't feel as heavy-headed or heavy-limbed as earlier - or was it yesterday? Maybe last week? - so she reckoned that, as long as her timing was right, she might actually be able to drag her weary limbs out of bed and shuffle over to the bathroom in the corner to relieve herself. No humiliating calls to the nurse to provide a bedpan, and no need for the thin wall of privacy afforded by a curtain through which Lois could easily make out the silhouettes of all the people coming and going outside the door - overworked doctors, overtired nurses, overdosed patients and overstressed visitors.

There was no television to help her blank out the stifling tedium of it all either, or to stop her thoughts from drifting towards inexplicable plane crashes, sweet but clumsy farmboys, or the whereabouts of her cousin. One of the nurses had explained that much of the hospital had been running off back-up generators following a catastrophic power failure affecting much of the state, and things were only slowly returning to normal. There was word that the entire country had felt some of the effects of what Lois had overheard a few voices dubbing "Dark Thursday". Lois' frequent drowsiness had meant she had struggled to make sense of it all. Whatever it was had affected the plane she'd been on and caused it to crash, she knew that much for sure. Apparently, there had been rioting and looting in Metropolis and Lois hoped that Chloe hadn't got caught up in all that.

Just as she was about to allow her thoughts to focus on the whereabouts of her little blonde cousin, said little blonde cousin was suddenly in the room with her.

"Lo!" cried Chloe, relieved as she bounded over to hug the prostrate Lois.

"Hey! Ow, Chloe! Bones. Getting. Crushed. Can't. Breathe!" replied Lois, delighted that Chloe was alright yet startled having had no time to even begin to sit up.

Chloe reluctantly lifted her slight frame off the patient. She immediately began to try and help Lois sit up while adjusting and fluffing her pillow at the same time. "You're OK!"

"So are you I see."

"Sorry I didn't come over sooner. I only heard a few hours ago. I tried calling but all the networks are still jammed and the roads were still gridlocked. How are you feeling?"

"Don't worry cuz. I've been out of it for the most part anyway."

"They told me you and Mrs Kent had been in a plane crash before being airlifted to Smallville. What happened?" Chloe pulled up a chair and sat down, laying a hand on Lois' arm.

Lois carefully repositioned her weight to take the pressure off her tender abdomen, sinking into the pillow gently. She repeated what she'd told Clark because she simply didn't know anything else.

"Honestly? I don't know. All I remember is the cabin lost pressure and I couldn't breathe. Mrs K passed out before I could yank out the oxygen masks. Then I passed out. After that, I woke up back here in Smallville." She thought about mentioning the strange ice palace her mind could still glimpse pieces of, with its cold hard floor, the strange warm light and a booming disembodied voice talking from somewhere distant. Maybe Clark was right, and it was all a figment of the vivid imagination of a brain that had been rattled around inside her skull a few too many times.

"What about Mrs Kent? Is she here?"

"No, she's back at home but she did stop by. She must've pulled a few strings to get us back here. Our senator is the real hero."

Chloe figured that the plane must have been affected by system failure caused by the events of Dark Thursday. It wasn't a far-fetched scenario, but there must have been other passengers on board, surely.

"What about all the others on the plane?"

"There were no others," said Lois. "Lionel Luthor dug deep into his starched pockets and coughed up the keys to his private jet. We had no other option than to fly in the lap of luxury for this one because the airline botched our booking."

Chloe was very surprised. Lionel had made no mention of Lois and Mrs Kent, but thinking on it, the pressing issue had been getting away from the rioting and looting before figuring out how best to tackle Zod's Lexbot in Clark's absence. The subject of Lois and Mrs Kent's whereabouts had never come up.

"Weird, he never mentioned it," said Chloe, to herself as much as anything.

Lois furrowed her brow confused. Lionel had been the source of multiple problems over the years, and she was still highly sceptical of him despite his campaign donations and willingness to help Mrs Kent in her senator role in any way possible. She had her suspicions as to his motives, not just in buying political influence, but also in trying to get close to Mrs Kent romantically. Did Lionel have some sort of epiphany and suddenly become amiable with all the people he'd clashed with in years gone by?

"Since when do you and Lionel chit chat?"

"Actually, hard as it is to believe, he might have saved my life," explained Chloe. "We got caught up when the riots kicked off in Metropolis after the power went out. It got really ugly really fast, but he helped me to escape and we barricaded ourselves in his office at LuthorCorp."

Lois still harboured her doubts. "It seems like the Rockefeller of the heartland is turning over a whole new leaf."

"I don't think I'd have got out alive if he hadn't been there, as strange as it sounds to actually say it."

"Yeah well, while he's in a charitable mood, I might ask him what he knows about the plane crash. He must have got word by now, and I need to get to the bottom of it."

"What, you think he sabotaged the flight?" pondered Chloe.

The thought had crossed Lois' mind more than once, but in light of Lionel's advances on Mrs Kent she didn't think he would stoop so low. "Maybe, maybe not. I certainly wouldn't rule it out."

"You wanna investigate what happened, don't you?"

"We almost died Chlo. I can't just let it go. I've seen the authorities let go of way too much before. They put their shovels away in the tool shed when they think they've hit solid rock. Me? I carry on digging."

Chloe smiled. Lois was showing the instincts of a good investigate reporter yet again. Chloe knew that her cousin had a real talent for investigating but little interest in writing, and zero inclination for meeting deadlines.

"After something this serious normally I'd help you, but given how every computer system totally shut down, I'm afraid we might have come to a real dead end. I wonder how many other flights were affected."

"I know for a fact we were late and way off course. All I remember seeing was mountains and a blanket of ice."

"Mountains?"

"Yeah, not rolling hills but more like we were flying over the Himalayas or something."

Chloe thought about the flight path from Metropolis to Washington. "You were heading east. Are you sure it wasn't just the Appalachians?"

"We're coming up to summer Chlo. Where would a blanket of ice come from at this time of year?"

"I don't know. But the fact you were brought back here means you can't have been that far away."

It was a valid argument but it just didn't sit right with Lois. They'd been in the air for quite a while before all hell broke loose. There was no way the plane had simply been circling near Kansas the whole time. She shuffled against her pillow, daring to raise her head and add a little more oomph to her take on things.

"I overheard a couple of the doctors talking about me when they thought I was still asleep. They mentioned hypothermia, which I can believe, but I also overheard them saying I was lucky not to get frostbite. How would I have been in danger of getting frostbite unless I was exposed to extreme cold huh? If the plane had broken up in mid air, I'd be dressed all in white, sitting on a cloud playing a harp by now."

Chloe leaned forward, suddenly very interested in Lois' plans. "What are you thinking cuz?"

"I wanna find out everything about the crash."

Chloe tried to hide her anxiety. She didn't want her cousin to push so hard only to come up empty handed. "If the Planet's computers are back online, I'll look into it. If you don't have the flight number, I'm sure I can hack into the tower logs. But you need to concentrate on getting better first. I don't want you winding up in here again."

"Fine," Lois relented, sinking back into her pillow and letting out a frustrated sigh. "I'm bored."

"You've only been here for about a day Lo, and you were sedated for most of it!"

"I just hate being cooped up in here. It's that smell of disinfectant and desperation that just drives me crazy."

"You've been through an ordeal and you need to allow your body to heal. Besides, I'm sure Mrs Kent will need you again for Chief of Staff duties pretty soon. The authorities are bound to look into everything that's happened so the governor and senators will be pretty busy."

Lois stared glumly at the ceiling, not liking the feeling of having to be a caged bird for however long the doctors felt it necessary to keep her here. Then she suddenly perked up as she had an idea. It was something to motivate her into getting better faster.

"You know what we should do once they let me out of here?"

Chloe motioned for Lois to continue.

"We should have a girls' night out. Just you and me, it'd be like old times. It's been too long. I reckon I can get myself discharged before the weekend, so whaddaya say to next Saturday, huh?"

"Oh!" Chloe exclaimed in surprise. She definitely hadn't been expecting Lois to suggest they go and paint the town red. "Lois, I've kinda got plans for Saturday."

"Don't tell me the editor's got you pulling all-nighters again already?"

"No, it's more of a date...type...thing," answered Chloe cautiously.

"With your editor?"

"Eww, no! Gross!" Chloe grimaced. "It's with some guy I know."

"Who? Anyone I know? Is it Smallville? No offence cuz, but he's the only guy who's in your orbit, _and_ he's single."

The mention of Clark restarted the tingling sensation in Lois' hand. Mercifully, before another blush could creep up on her face, Chloe lightly smacked her on the arm in mock annoyance.

"If you were anyone else, I'd wanna rip your head off for that! But it's true, I've been waiting at the back of the line for too long now."

"Well good for you for _finally_ moving on. So tell me, who is this new guy of yours? Is he hot?"

"He's really cute and he makes me laugh, and God knows I've needed that. His name's Jimmy and we met at intern camp when I was in high school."

Lois reached out and clutched Chloe's hand. "Well, I for one am happy for you! Wait. Intern camp? Didn't you tell me your first time with a guy was when you were at one of these nerdy conventions?"

Chloe looked embarrassed. "Yeah Lo, it's the same Jimmy."

"Wow! I'm sure it won't be long before I get to meet the guy. Don't worry Chlo, I'll make sure he treats you right and shapes up to pass the foolproof Lois Lane test for suitable boyfriend material."

"He's started a new job at the Planet so you'll get to meet him soon. I know you Lo, and I don't want you scaring him away!"

"Now would I do such a thing?!" Lois laughed, feigning shock at such an accusation.

Chloe laughed along with her, and the two spent the rest of the morning swapping chit chat while nurses came and went to check on Lois. After a while, Lois needed another nap which was Chloe's cue to leave.

Relief that the people closest to her were all safe would help her speed up her recovery. Lois figured she'd be released from the hospital soon enough, and then the world had better watch out, because she had a new mission in life. This bird was not meant to be caged.

* * *

**FIN.**


End file.
